Bangkok was a great time. We arrived after being in Halong Bay and checked into our AirBnB. The apartment itself was pretty okay, but the location and the swimming pool at the hotel were unbeatable. (We were staying in a private residence inside the Ascott Hotel.). Our first night we went back to where Scott and I had eaten many times on our last trip. Located near the Peninsula Hotel is a street food place that we refer to as KK’s. After eating Vietnamese food for more than a month, we were all excited to chow down on some outstanding Thai food. The kids ate two full servings each and then an entire mango. We were all happy to feed, and Scott and I were happy to see the folks from the street kitchen again.
Day two and three were a pretty slow but did involve another trip to KK’s. We quickly worked out the BTS (elevated train system), and while it was inexpensive and pretty quick, we still found ourselves scooting around in Uber and tuktuks. We really kind of tooled around and didn’t do much productive the first few days in Bangkok. We did make it to the zoo and the aquarium that Keali will be reviewing on her blog. Otherwise, it was a nice not-do-kind-of-time for us. The kids spent a decent amount of time in the swimming pool, and we snuck out for some street food meals.
We did try to go get some new tennis shoes at the local shopping mall. That was a total fail. It turns out they simply don’t carry women’s size 10 in any shoes. People there just don’t have big feet. The upside was we didn’t spend any money on shoes.
Of course one day included the obligatory temple and palace and local landmark visiting. The trip to get to that part of town was fun, since it involved taking a boat bus up the river. The kids had already been informed that the river was really dirty and many toilets emptied into it. My sick sense of humor was tickled as I watched the two kids, who refuse to wash hands, freak every time a drop of water from the river landed on them. Motherhood has hidden humor.
The temples and Buddhas were really fun. Because of the extreme heat, we hired a tuk tuk to take us to the main ones we wanted to see. The whole day for the tuk tuk cost about $6USD. I can’t imagine walking the distances the tuk tuk took us. ParticulRly in the heat. (It’s also difficult to understand how the people – like the tuk tuk drivers – here can live on such low income.) We visited some beautiful temples. 
Most of them have a wall where families rent a small box on display to place the deceased person’s urn as a memorial. Some of the boxes were really touching with family photos and personal items. 
Minus the hoards of people, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha was my favorite. The size of the Buddha and the care taken to make and maintain him is beyond impressive. 
The grounds around the temple include many warrior statues and other sites to explore. 
One could easily spend hours at that one site.
And finally, one of the best parts of Bangkok was that our AirBnb was in a giant building shared with a hotel with several restaurants on the first floor. Scott and I were able to leave the kids in the room for an hour or two and go downstairs to have a mini-date. Twice. We’ve missed having our regular date nights in Houston.
The two most fun “family adventures” we did was take a cooking class and a street food tour. First, the cooking class. We went back to the woman who taught Scott and I thai cooking four years ago. Thai Homecooking is the place to go. 
Angsana invited us into her home to learn how to cook some new dishes. Top on our list was miang khom. Having eaten it too many times to count in our favorite Amsterdam restaurant Krua Thai, we were thrilled to learn how to make it. I never expected the kids to eat it, but Caden ate his body weight in it.
The kids dove into the cooking class. Keali loved running the cleaver and the mortar and pestle. Caden likely would have cooked even more than he did had he stopped eating the miang khom. 
We all fed well, and as an extra bonus, Scott had to run to the ATM at the end of class on a scooter taxi.
The other event mentioned that was well loved by the family was a local walking street food tour. Our guide was a young man named Big who had been born in Thailand but grown up in California. With his perfect English and Thai language skills, we learned about (and sampled) some of the many popular street foods. 
The favorite was the sweet one: marshmallow stuff. 
Also spotted on the tour was a “water bug pad thai”. The “water bug” turned out to be a giant tree roach. None of us tasted that one. We did try several other new foods and can eat street food with a little more confidence.
Good fruit example (mangosteen)
Bad fruit example (jackfruit – very similar to durian):
Here’s how bad durian is/smells:
All in all, Bangkok did not disappoint. We ate well, explored some, and relaxed quite a lot. I think everyone in the family will be happy to return to Thailand in June.
It is interesting to note that the king of Thailand died in October. He was, at his death, the longest ruling monarch at 70 years. Due to how much he was loved, the country is still in official mourning. There were shrines all over the city and will remain until September. 
Video highlights: